[ruffle]

Hi all,

I am just wondering if there are any way to estimate how far something (e.g. flowers) could be smelled. I am aware that it is dependent on odor concentration, but maybe there are some general formulas that gives rough estimates??

many thanks for any insights!!

[P]

Wind speed and direction will play a part also. Maybe volatility of the scent.

[Yggdrasil]

You could probably model the problem using Fick's laws of diffusion.

[Arkcon]

Also, humans have varying sensitivities to various chemicals, some can be smelled in very dilute amounts, others need to be more concentrated.  This is a way too complicated question to solve, as you've written it.

[P]

Also, humans have varying sensitivities to various chemicals, some can be smelled in very dilute amounts, others need to be more concentrated.  This is a way too complicated question to solve, as you've written it.

yea - also I think some humans build up further sensitivities or tolerances to specific smells. I think I have become loess tolerant to the smell of styrene monomers and their derivatives over the years. The smell never used to bother me....  after 4 years of working with them nearly 20 years ago they actually made me feel horrible when I could smell them and just the slightest amount I could detect and shy away from. I remembered this recently when I was asked to look at some styrene for some reason and instantly remembered the smell and went all light headed. (It is supposed to be used in a fume hood, but even just seeing a bottle of the stuff sets my nose off, scrunching up in disgust). The styrene smell isn't all that bad (although carcinogenic I think), I actually like the smell in a way, but I have had too much of it and it makes me feel terrible in the head at the slightest exposure.... like a soreness in my nasal membranes, lips, throat and lungs. I would be happy never to get a wiff of it again.

[shiffdaddy]

Every single time I work with diethyl ether, no matter how careful I am with the fume hood I still get a splitting headache.  Pisses me right off

[P]

Every single time I work with diethyl ether, no matter how careful I am with the fume hood I still get a splitting headache.  Pisses me right off

Poor you - I used to like that smell. I think dichloromethane used to smell nice too. I can't remember which one smells of which, but both were nice iirc.